The Rush Of Your Skin
by bellaniklaren
Summary: Maura and Jane find themselves in a nightmare, rushing to solve the most important case in the history of Boston Homocide. Everything is hitting a little too close to home.
1. Chapter 1

**I am trying to work on my writing, what better than with a bit of fanfiction? I'm not great at smut, but I am pretty good at plot twists. My writing style has gone out the window since the last time I wrote anything, so here's to self improvement hopefully :/ This will be ongoing, and I'm not saying there will STRICTLY be no smut, it's just that I'm not fantastic at it. Please feel free to review, I am all for constructive criticism, but please be gentle.**

The day had started out like any other day.

"Maura, do NOT tell me you forgot! I got up and ran all the way here, this early in the morning -"

"Jane, Jane I'm sorry. Can I make you some tea?"

Jane glared at her best friend, standing at the foot of the stairs. Her blonde hair tumbled over her shoulders in a way that should be illegal. The robe tied around her waist did nothing to mask the fact that she had obviously been asleep with nothing on.

God, how does she look so good first thing in the morning?

"If you'd bothered to check your messages, I got in late last night and looked at the forecast. It's way too hot to go running; even this early in the morning. Severe hyperthermia occurs at a body temperature of 104 degrees. If not, then heat cramps and heat exhaustion are definitely major concerns -"

"MAURA, DON'T GOOGLE MOUTH ME AT SIX IN THE MORNING WHEN I HAVEN'T HAD MY COFFEE."

Jane strode past Maura and flopped onto her couch.

"SHOES!" cried Maura, rushing forward to rescue a cushion from under her best friends muddy feet.

Jane looked down, then threw Maura a wicked grin. "Yes, they're on my feet."

Angela entered the room to find her daughter and Maura engaged in what can only be described as a brutal pillow fight.

"JANE CLEMENTINE RIZZOLI, YOU ARE A GUEST IN THIS HOUSE!"

Jane dropped the pillow with a giggle and bounced over to the fridge. "The owner of the house started it, Ma."

"I don't care who started it, I didn't raise you to fight with pillows!"

Jane sniggered into the bottle of water in her hand. "Nah, Frankie and I never used pillows."

Jane barely dodged the whisk aimed at her backside. Everything was interrupted by the ringtone of Jane's cellphone.

"Ugh, so earlyyyyyyy." whined Jane, reaching into her pocket. "Rizzoli."

"Jane? JANE. Where are you, I've been knocking on your apartment door for ten minutes."

"Korsak? Jeez, calm down, I just went for a run to Maura's. What's wrong?"

"Jane, we got a body over at Cedar Junction."

"Alright, I'll get Maura to drive me home to get changed and then we'll both make our way over there."

"NO. Jane, you absolutely can't bring Maura." Jane's heart dropped into a pit in her stomach. She watched Maura and her mother smiling and chatting over tea in the next room. She felt her blood run cold.

"Vince… Vince, no, no, it can't be…"

"I'm sorry Jane. I've got uniforms on the way to Hope's clinic and to Maura's house to do the notifications and ask a few questions."

"Vince, you can't be serious! They're our friends, you can't let Random Cop #3 take care of them!"

"This is coming straight from the brass, Jane. We do everything by the book or people will get hurt, you know what the crime syndicate is like. There's going to be an uproar."

Jane met Maura's eyes over the counter, and Maura finally clicked that something was wrong. "Jane, what is it -"

Her question was cut off by a knock on the front door. Jane snapped her phone shut and tried to get to the door before Maura. Her best friends panic was rising; she knew something horrible had happened. On the door step was Frankie and Charlie. Maura smiled, her body sagging in relief.

"Oh, thank God, it's only you two." Frankie squared his shoulders, trying everything they'd taught him in sensitivity training.

"Maura, I'm sorry to bring such bad news. It's Paddy Doyle."

Maura blanched. "Wh-what about him? H-He's in Cedar Junction awaiting trial."

Frankie tried his best to look her right in the eye, his resolve slowly disappearing into those wide eyes.

"Miss Isles, I'm sorry to tell you that Paddy Doyle was killed last night in his cell."


	2. Chapter 2 - A Long Shot

**Hi everyone! Thanks for the reviews and comments already :) I'd like to thank MissToastie for correcting my spelling – I can't believe I was spelling Korsak AND Paddy wrong . anywho, this chapter isn't for the faint of heart. I'm setting this whole thing to take place after seasons 4; so hopefully I'm not going to regret writing this when season 5 hits. As always, read and review, please be gentle but be honest! :)**

Maura's hands shook around the moss-green mug she was holding.

"I should put this down, Hope gave this to me, she got it for me in Guatemala, it's hand thrown and hand painted and glazed using a local technique that dates back to... to... I can't remember. I don't want to drop it. I should put it down. Yes, I definitely should."

Frankie stared, wide-eyed, across the table. The normally calm, stylish, put-together medical examiner was stammering and uttering nonsense. He had seen this woman face down serial killers, put her hands inside tubs of rotten human remains and save lives. He had eaten dinner across the table from her at least four nights a week for the past year and a half.

She was broken, and bruised, and he had dropped the bomb that almost killed her.

"Maura, I know this is difficult, but I have to ask you some questions... I'm sorry, Jane, but I do!"

Frankie glared at his sister, who was sitting next to Maura shooting him the dirtiest look he'd ever seen. Jane pulled the blanket off the back of the couch and draped it over Maura's shoulders.

"Maur, honey, I'm gonna put take this, okay?" Jane said as she gently tugged the mug from Maura's grip.

Maura stared, eyes unfocused, at some point over Frankie's left shoulder. "Yes, yes of course. In 83% of homocides the murderer was known to the victim, and in 49% of cases it was a close family member, 38% were committed by spouses in the last twelve months alone, and... and... Jane, I don't know how many were committed by daughters."

Jane gave a weak smile. "We'll look it up later."

"Maura, where were you last night between the hours of nine and eleven thirty?"

"JESUS, FRANKIE, WHAT KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT?! You think Maura just strolled into Cedar Junction and killed Patty Doyle?!"

"Rizzoli."

All heads except Maura's snapped in the direction of the new voice. Sean Cavanaugh stood in the doorway of the living room. Angela made to stand, but he waved her down.

"Rizzoli, I know this is hard, and she's your friend, but you know we have to run it this way. I've got the chief and the governor up my ass, and I give it about thirty more seconds before the feds decided that this is their playground. We have to do this right. None of us think that Maura had anything to do with it, but we've gotta go BY THE BOOK, to the LETTER. If I catch you acting like that again I will kick you outside of this house and OFF this investigation. Do I make myself clear?"

Jane slumped, the very picture of a petulant child.

"Rizzoli, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir." pouted Jane.

"Good. Keep going, Frank."

"Maura, do you remember what I asked?" Frankie said gently, leaning across the table to lay his hand on Maura's.

A bitter, horrible taste surged through Jane's mouth. She was met with the overwhelming desire to kick her brother in the face.

_Don't you touch her, she's mine._

Jane struggled to keep her feelings in check. She knew better than to start feeling like this now. She'd had two and a half years to tell Maura how she felt. She wasn't going to do it straight after her father had died. There had been countless opportunities – perfect moments. Jane sighed and resumed rubbing her best friends back.

"Yes, Frankie. I was at, um, Jane, the place I showed you yesterday?"

"Oh! Yeah, she was at some art museum opening. Hold on, I think she left the invitation in her purse."

Jane heard Cavanaugh offering condolences as she started up the stairs. Glancing back, she saw him discreetly grab her mothers hand and give it an affectionate squeeze. Angela's red-rimmed eyes looked up at Sean and offered him a watery smile through quivering lips.

Jane's bare feet padded along expensive carpet and rugs to Maura's bedroom. She tried not to look at the photos of her and Maura together, smiling on the wall. There was one taken not so long ago, with Maura and Jane smiling at the camera, Jane's left arm thrown around Mauras shoulders. It had been in the fleeting moment when Jane thought she would marry Casey. The ring glinted ubiquitously, reminding Jane of the man who's heart she had broken before he ran away to war. Through fresh eyes, the photo almost looked like an engagement picture.

Jane swallowed the fresh bile and charged into Maura's perfectly neat bedroom. She found the purse instantly, on the table next to the walk-in closet door. This was one of the things Maura had never quite rescued after Angela's "organization" spree. The label was still stuck to the table, which Jane was sure had been worth quite a bit of money before the words "PURSE/KEYS/MISCELLANEOUS" had been emblazoned on it in the form of a white sticker.

Jane hauled the bag downstairs just in time to see Korsak stomping through the front door. "VINCE." she stage-whispered, beckoning him to sneak onto the stairs where they wouldn't be seen – or heard.

"Vince, what the hell is going on?"

"Jane, you know I'm not supposed to -"  
"VINCE."  
Korsak sighed, resigned. He knew that Jane was more likely to shoot him in the foot than let him walk away before he'd answered her.

"The guards on the midnight shift doing their first rounds found him. He'd been dead for about an hour, maybe more. Pike is looking at him now. He'd been tazered, Jane. Someone had jerry-rigged a guard tazer and held down the button. Cardiac arrest."

"What, are we looking at a guard here? Who was the last one in his cell?" Jane whispered in horror.

Vince shook his head tiredly. "That's the thing. The last guard that used a keycard in that hallway was found dead, about fifteen feet from Paddy's cell door."

Jane cringed. "Don't they move in pairs? Where's his partner?"

"In the wind. We're trying to find him, but there were drag marks. I'd say he got hauled off."

"Inside job gone bad?"

"Don't know yet, we're playing this one pretty close to the chest."

"Hate to break up this little meeting, but Vince, if you aren't too busy playing Gossip Girl, we need you in here." Cavanaughs voice had a definite edge to it. He glared at them from the bottom of the stairs.

Jane numbly handed Cavanaugh the purse and sat on the step. If he'd wanted her to go back in there, he would have asked for her. On any other case she would have thrown a fit, but she needed to stay on this case. Maura needed her to stay on this case. She needed to catch the people who did this to her best friends father.

It seemed like hours later that Vince finally stuck his head around the corner and nodded for her to come in. In reality, it had probably been a matter of minutes. Jane finally clicked onto what was missing from the picture.

"Vince, where's Frost?"

"Outside with the uniforms, they're setting up who will be watching Maura's house and when."

Jane stopped dead. "She's not STILL a suspect?!"

"No, we checked her alibi. There's even pictures of her on the galleries Facebook page. Good thing one of the major attractions of the museum is the massive clock in the lobby. She was there until at least three AM – it's airtight Jane."

Jane breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay. Then why the stakeout?"

Vince looked nervously at his shoes. "For her protection."

Jane changed course, starting towards the front door.

"Where are you going?"

"I wanna tell Frost that I'll be staying with her round the clock as well, it might help him out a little."

Jane threw open the front door.

It took her a good ten seconds to process what was happening. The first thing she felt was a warm wetness on her feet. She heard Vince yelling something, but she didn't catch what he'd said.

All she could see was her partner, lying sprawled across the door-step with a bullet hole right between his eyes.


	3. Chapter 3 - Hush, Hush

Everything in Jane's world had come to a halt. She barely had time to process what was happening before Cavanaugh slammed into her, tackling her to the ground. She saw Frankie ushering Angela and Maura behind the couch, keeping them low and invisible from the windows. Korsak, close to her left side, was belly-crawling towards his radio.

Her blood rushing in her ears almost drowned out Vince's voice. She vaguely heard him saying "officer down! Officer down!" and the realization hit her like a punch in the stomach. The officer down was FROST. Her partner. Barry Frost was dead on her best friends porch. This couldn't be happening, this had to be a dream.

The next thing Jane knew, she was being unceremoniously rattled into the back of an ambulance. Panic set in and she threw every punch and kick she could from her position on the bed. Strong hands grabbed her and she felt a pinch above her elbow. Her eyes darted around and locked on with the soft-hazel green of Maura's.

Maura bit her lip and quickly wiped tears away with her free hand, pulling the needle from Jane's arm with the other hand. "You need to rest." she choked out. Her voice creaked with agony. "No, Maur, don't make me sleep, please..." muttered Jane, the medication already setting in. "Jane, please, get some rest."

"Maur, I love you."

"I love you too Jane." smiled Maura weakly.

"No, Maur, I..." Jane's eyes fluttered shut.

She woke again hours later, stretched out on her own bed. Her eyes, still drowsy from the drugs, rolled in their sockets a few times before they settled on her best friend, perched on the edge of her bed reading. "Maur..." croaked Jane, reaching towards her with feeble hands.

Maura's head snapped towards her and in one fluid motion, she was leaning over Jane and checking vitals. "You passed out and went into shock, I convinced them you'd be better off waking up at home, you've been asleep for almost nine hours and I was worried I'd given you too much medication or you'd never wake up and I was reading about the after effects of trauma and..."

"Maur, don't google mouth me before my coffee."

Jane's heart leapt into her throat as the morning came flooding back. She'd said that exact thing to Maura this morning, before Paddy and Frost and all this hell.

"Maur, what happened?"

Maura's lip shook. "Jane, I don't think -"

"MAURA." growled Jane. "If you don't tell me I'll get up and go into the office."

Maura bristled. "Keep threatening me and I'll tie you down."

Jane tried her hardest not to think too hard about that sentence.

Maura wrung her hands, something she never usually did. "Barry was shot by a sniper."

Jane groaned in pain. Her partner, her friend.

"Did we catch who did it?"

"No, not yet. We did find that the shot came from one of my neighbors rooftops, about eight houses down the street. It would have been incredibly difficult to make. That's also why we didn't hear the shot."

Jane's brow furrowed. "What was he doing out there alone?"

Maura's face crumpled. "He wasn't alone, Jane, he had three new cadets with him. The youngest was nineteen. They were KIDS. Barry was TWENTY NINE. They're all GONE and it's because of ME and -"

Maura was cut off by Jane throwing her arms around her neck. "Shhh, Maur, it's not your fault, shhh, I promise."

When Maura's sobs slowed to hiccups, Jane asked her the question she hadn't wanted to.

"What did you mean, your fault?"

Maura took three deep breaths, steeling herself.

"CSU found the note on the roof where the shots were taken. It was a book of newspaper clippings. Paddy, me, Hope and... and..."

Jane brushed Maura's hair back from her face. "Who, Maur?"

Maura looked up into Jane's eyes. Jane was heartbroken by the pain and sadness she saw there. She wanted to hold her, kiss her, tell her how much she loved her and how she would die to save her from this. The thought struck a chord in Jane. WOULD she have to die for Maura? Would that be how she went out?

Maura's voice was even softer than it had been before, as though the weight of the world was pressing on her chest.

"There was you, Jane."

Jane blinked twice. "Well, I suppose they know we're friends, whoever they are. They'd know how close we are and -"

"That wasn't all, Jane. It was the photo we took at your mothers wedding. It was Angela, Sean, Frankie, Tommy and you. Even TJ was circled."

The bile rose in Jane's throat. She, Cavanaugh and Frankie knew the dangers of being police officers. It made you a target, whether you were involved or not. But her mother? Tommy? Her baby nephew? How could she protect them all?

"That's not everything, Jane."

Jane's eyes widened. She wasn't sure how much more information she could process.

"There was a picture of this man, Korsak says his name is Lou Bredgen. He's wanted up and down the country for mob-related things. He's a bad, bad man Jane."

Jane took the proffered photo and saw what she was supposed to see before she read the writing at the bottom of the page. She saw the same tilt to the eyes, the same jawline, the same hair colour. The same half-smile and posture.

It was a mugshot. At the bottom of the page, someone had crossed out his name in red ink, and written his real name at the bottom.

**_Liam Patrick Doyle_.**

"I have a brother, Jane."

Jane dropped the page and looked at her best friend, who had curled her knees to her chest.

"I have a brother, and he's every bit the monster that my father was."


	4. Chapter 4 - Bye, Bye, Birdy

**Hi guys! Thank you all so much for the kind words, the follows and just for taking the time to read my blahblahblah :3 I know I've been updating a lot, I just throw out a chapter every time I have the time. I've got enough storyline planned out for this to go for another eight or nine chapters if I keep the chapters this size. As always, review but please be gentle! (I promise one of these chapters will end in something other than a huge twist, but not this time!)**

The next few days passed in a blur. A frantic Angela Rizzoli came to Jane's apartment before the sun rose the following day, to find her daughter and Maura curled up together over the covers of Jane's queen sized bed. Jo Friday raised a sleepy head at Angela as she stood in the doorway, unsure of whether to disturb them. Seeing them lying together brought a twinge in Angela's chest.

The entire group threw themselves into work. Maura did not handle sharing her morgue with Pike well. When the man had the audacity to bring Paddy's heart to her to "ask for an opinion" with a smug smile on his face, Maura was pleased that Jane and Frankie were in her office. Frankie felt a small pang of guilt knowing he'd broken an elderly mans nose. Jane felt no such guilt.

The funeral of Frost and the cadets was something Jane wished she could forget. Standing in her dress blues at his graveside was one of the most horrible moments in her life. She saw Frost's mother being almost carried down behind his casket by her weeping wife. Jane realized afterwards as they were all sitting at The Dirty Robber that his father hadn't been at Barry's funeral.

Suddenly, it was the day after the funeral and Jane found herself sitting at her desk with coffee in her hand, staring at Barry's empty desk. Cavanaugh walked in, clearing his throat loudly.

"Attention everyone. I know that this is a difficult time for everyone here, but we need to push through. For Frost, for Doctor Isles, for the Rizzolis, even for me, though I don't expect you to break your necks for that last one."

Jane was sure that was supposed to be a joke, but instead she just felt sick to her stomach.

"I truly wish I was handing out this achievement at a more cheerful time, where everyone could go grab a beer and celebrate. I was going to hold off until after the investigation was cleared, but it seems we'll need the manpower. I would like you to all give a round of applause to the newest homocide detective, Francesco Rizzoli."

Jane mustered a weak smile and a clap for her brother. She was proud of him, she truly was, but this was an awful time to be doing this. Cavanaugh knew that, everyone in the department knew that. Nevertheless, they clapped and cheered for the clearly shell-shocked Frankie.

When the handshakes and accolades died down, Frankie made his way to Jane and Korsak.

"We haven't cleaned out his – I mean, we don't have a – maybe you could..." stammered Jane, trying to skirt the issue.

"Forget about it, I don't need a desk. We'll worry about it later." said Frankie stoically as he carefully ignored the wooden elephant in the room. "Where we at?"

Korsak looked at the three whiteboards lined up, all dedicated to this one case. Pictures, arrows, names were scrawled everywhere; it was difficult to read anything at all.

The picture of Liam Doyle was dead centre, flashing a cocky half smile at them all. His rap sheet was nothing short of impressive. Burglary, arson, extortion, murder, manslaughter,racketeering, drug-trafficking, solicitation, the list went on. "How are we supposed to offer protection to a guy eight states can't find?" muttered Jane, glaring at him and trying to ignore his resemblance to Maura.

"We don't. He's got his own people, they'll keep him safe." said Korsak, flicking through his notes for the hundredth time.

"Yeah. Let's go back, to the start. This all started with Paddy." said Frankie, flipping one whiteboard over and writing Paddy's name on the fresh surface. "Who do we think killed Paddy?"

Jane raised an eyebrow. "You're going to need another whiteboard."

Frankie glared at her. "You know what I mean, who are our top picks?"

Korsak leaned against his desk, thinking. "Well, there's the heads of the other mob families, they could have done it pretty easily. Pay off a guard here and there, you could get in easily enough."

Jane put her head in her hands. "We've been through the dead guard and the missing guards financials with a tooth comb. They were barely going to make rent this month, let alone... oh my god, that's it."

Frankie and Korsak hurried to get out of the way of the hurricane that followed. Jane threw papers off her desk left and right, until she finally found the piece of paper she was looking for.

"Korsak, studio apartment downtown, how much you think that would go for a month?"

Vince scratched his head. "Maybe $600? The street the missing guy lived on was a dump though, so maybe less. Plus he shared with another two people, so probably less..."

Jane cut him off. "So why was he paying $1100 a month in rent?"

Korsak grabbed the paper from her. "That can't be right." As he checked the numbers, he realized where Jane was going as she tapped on her computer. "The rental agency name is a fake."

"Probably a front for the mob, yeah?" said Frankie, catching on.

"That's what I'm thinking. Guy gets in too deep with gambling or drinking or something like that, starts paying off the mob through his 'rental company' so everything looks on the level, mob finds out he's a prison guard, pays him to get somebody in. They kill the other guard, kill Paddy, and then our guy either chickens out or is classed as one too many witnesses and gets dragged off. We gotta find out where his money was going and fast, because that's our killer."

While the homocide department started running internet searches as fast as their fingers could go, three floors below them Pike and the crime lab techs left for lunch. Maura wasn't sure how long they had been gone before she noticed she was alone in the lab, staring at autopsy reports without actually taking in any information.

She didn't hear footsteps, and she didn't hear the back door softly click shut.

"Hey, sis."

Maura spun to find herself face to face with Liam Doyle. Before she could scream or defend herself, she felt the prick of the needle in her neck and she slumped into his arms. Whistling, Liam tossed her into a firemans carry and strolled out the back door to a waiting car, tossing her cellphone onto a bench with a gloved hand.

Maura didn't stir.


	5. Chapter 5 - He Ain't Heavy

**Hi everyone! Thank you all for your kind words :D it's been brought to my attention that I have been spelling homicide wrong this whole time, but my computer didn't pick it up. Whoops. Live and learn!**

No huge twist this time, just some character development. I'm hoping to have chapter six up tonight, since I've mostly written it already. As always, please read and review! :)

It took an hour for anyone to notice that Maura was gone, and a further forty five minutes to realize that something was horribly wrong. The crime lab began processing their own morgue, frantically trying to find their M.E. By the time the news reached Jane, they had tracked the rent payments to a small outfit of thugs running things downtown.

Frankie beat Jane out of the elevator, which means that he beat her to the uniformed officer who was supposed to stay with Maura constantly. It took every fibre of his being not to beat him into a pulp, but he was quickly distracted by holding back his irate sister.

There was almost nothing to go on. There were no prints, no hairs, nothing to say who had taken Maura and where. All they had was a pair of tyre treads leading out of the parking lot, and the smallest amount of transfer where the getaway car had side-swiped the coroners van in the rush to leave. Susie was frantically running every test she could think of through the mass-spectrometer, wiping away tears for her lost boss.

Jane refused to consider that Maura might be hurt, or dead. "There's no blood, Korsak." she mused as she walked through the crime scene for the thousandth time. "There's no blood. She was all alone down here. If it was our killer, he would have done it and run off. Why take her?"

Korsak was surveying the plastic curtain that hung from the back dock door. "I don't know, Jane. But I don't like it." Korsak squinted at the curtain, moving closer. "HA! Not so smart now, are ya, tough guy?" Jane hurried to him and finally saw what he saw.

On one of the hanging plastic sheets, there was an area of discolouration. Jane paused, wondering if Korsak was clutching at straws to make her feel better. "Vince, I don't -" "GET CSU OVER HERE NOW." shouted Vince to the crime tech's that were still wandering around the parking lot, looking for anything they could have missed. Vince pointed at the patch, and the tech instantly knew what was happening. Jane suddenly felt very dumb.

"Mind telling me what the hell is going on?" she snapped, irritated with herself. "Don't you see? Whoever it was was waiting between the door and the curtain. It's fogged up because it was pressing against their face. They were BREATHING on it, Jane. We might be able to pull some DNA."

Jane was filled with an overwhelming urge to kiss Korsak. "Vince, you're a genius."

Maura was cold. Her intelligence kicked in before full consciousness did. She remembered what had happened, and she knew to keep her breathing regular and feign sleep for as long as possible. _Think, Maura, think._ She went through her senses. She could tell through her closed eyelids that she was in a dimly lit room. She could hear someone else breathing, and a faint flicking noise every so often. The pages of a book turning, maybe? She FELT cold. Her thin scrubs weren't made for anything outside her temperature controlled morgue and office.

"I know you're awake."

Maura's blood ran cold. It was a deep, male voice, with the tiniest hint of a sing-song Irish accent. She opened her eyes. For the first time, she realized she wasn't restrained. She stretched out on a large bed, with the lamps in the room turned down low. She could see someone sitting in the armchair at the end of her bed, a thick book resting on the arm of the chair.

"I didn't know you existed either, until last week." The voice said, standing from his chair and perching himself on the edge of the bed. Maura cringed and scooted away.

"Hey, hey, I won't hurt you. I won't ever hurt you, I promise. We're family." said Liam, standing up and stepping away from his sister.

"We're NOT family." spat Maura, her heart racing as rage filled her. "You're a monster. We share a parent, that's it."

She tried hard not to see the hurt flitter across Liam's features. "I get that, I do." he said, quietly. "I'm not like Paddy. I'm not exactly proud of how I've lived my life. But it was either do what I was told or die. Can you honestly hate me for that?"

Maura's resolve wavered, for a second. She knew what Paddy had been like. He'd never even PRETENDED to show remorse for everything he'd done, with the exception of Sean's family. She pulled her knees up to her chest and thought for a moment.

"Why have you brought me here?" she said finally.

"I have to keep you safe. Paddy knew what was going to happen, long before it did. He had his sources, inside and out. He knew someone was coming for him, and me, and you. He said if I didn't promise to take care of you, someone would take care of ME."

Maura knew exactly the kind of 'care' Liam was referencing.

"How long do I have to stay here?" she said.

"As long as it takes." said Liam softly. "Your detective friends are smart, they have the highest conviction rate in the tri-state area. They'll figure it out."

"Do you know who is doing this? They... they shot my friend, too." said Maura. The weight of Frost's death weighed on her. She would never, ever stop blaming herself for Barry's death.

Liam grimaced. "I know. We were in your street, watching your house. We thought you'd be safe with all those cops crawling around. We let our guard down. It's our fault an innocent man, and three innocent kids died."

Maura looked up, surprised at the empathy. She'd read his case file. The Liam she had pictured was a horrible man. This man was... broken. Sad. Empty.

"You couldn't have known."

Liam suddenly stood up and strode to the wall. Before Maura could stop him, he threw his fist straight through the thin wood.

It was then Maura saw several other holes around the room, just like this one.

She was at his side, her medical training overtaking her fear of him. "That was really, really stupid." she chided, holding his hand in her own. "Can we get some more light?"

Liam looked at her, shellshocked. She was trying to take care of him. He watched her lean down to try and inspect his hand in the dim room.

"There's... there's a lightswitch next to the door. Please don't try and leave, there are guards outside."

Maura blinked. _Guards? _She had almost forgotten she was here as a prisoner.

"I... I won't try and leave, not until I've fixed this up." she stammered as she gestured to his hand. "Is there a first aid kit in here?"

"Under the bed." said Liam, flinching as he dropped into his chair.

A few minutes later, Maura was stitching the cuts in his hand without any hesitation. "You have a dislocated finger." she murmured as she tied off the last thread.

"Yeah, that happens a lot." said Liam, biting his lip as he gingerly tried to move it.

Maura saw that same expression in the mirror every time she had a headache. Her world was changing, again. She had a brother, who was a lot like her. Could she overlook his past? Could she add to her already mismatched family?

Without thinking, she simply popped the bone back into it's socket. Liam blanched, his face going white.

"Ouch! Jeez, Maura!" He said, rubbing his hand.

"Don't do that, you'll rip your stitches." she said, smacking his good hand away.

They made eye contact. Maura was overwhelmed with the urge to laugh. She shook the feeling away, standing to go back to her place on the bed. She noticed the book he'd been reading.

"Voltaire?" she asked, picking up the battered hard cover. It was hard to think of a mobster appreciating Voltaire's style. The thought left a bitter tasted in her mouth. This was a mobster, not her brother. He had murdered people. He had ruined lives.

"Yeah, it's my favourite." said Liam quietly.

"Mine, too." whispered Maura.

Back at the precinct, Jane smacked her desk in frustration and stood to pace back and forth in front of the whiteboards.

"The DNA was a sibling match to Maura. Not a half sibling – FULL sibling match. This means it had to be Doyle. It also means he's gotta be Hope's son, too." she spat.

Korsak and Frankie sat in their chairs, severely sleep-deprived and a little frightened of Jane. 

"Doyle took Maura. Was it Doyle behind the killings? Did he leave his mugshot to throw us off? Is he trying to protect her in the same insane way his father did? GOD, why does she have to have such a crazy family?! Next thing you know some half-cousin-uncle-man is going to come strolling in with a bomb strapped to his chest." she half yelled, throwing papers off her desk in anger.

Korsak gently said "Jane, you need to calm down. Go home and-"

"I WILL NOT GO HOME WHILE SOME PSYCHOPATH HAS MAURA!" yelled Jane, kicking over her desk chair.

"Rizzoli." came a new voice.

Cavanaugh stood in the doorway of his office, a tired Angela at his side.

"Come on sweetie, it's time to go home and get some rest. You're no good when you're tired." said Angela pleadingly.

"I'm fine, Ma." said Jane. That was a lie. She was exhausted, angry and terrified.

"Rizzoli, it's an order." said Sean, as firmly as he could. "As your boss I'm ordering you to go home. As your step-father I am BEGGING you to go home."

Jane melted. "Okay. Wait, can I stay at Maura's instead? I have to feed Bass for her anyway."

Sean looked at her with nothing but pity, which Jane hated. "Sure, Rizzoli. There's a patrol going outside her house, you'll be safe there. We're staying in the guest house, we'll be right there. Frankie's coming to stay there too."

"I am?" said Frankie, clearly surprised.

"You sure are, Rizzoli."

Downstairs, the mass-spectrometer finally spat out a result and started it's own search. Susie, who had fallen asleep at her desk, stirred slightly at the noise before going back to sleep. Unbeknownst to the tired people walking out the front door to head to Maura's, tomorrow morning they would have answers to questions they hadn't even asked yet.


End file.
